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Is Your Dental Website Secure?

How Does Website Security (and HTTPS) Impact My Dental Practice?

Chrome has launched a new update this July to alert visitors if the website they’re visiting is secure or “Not Secure”. This can be scary for patients looking to submit personal information on your website as identity theft affected 15 million people in 2017 alone.

Online security has become a huge priority for websites that collect data, require a password, conduct purchases or have private information that users may want to keep confidential. This is no surprise as HubSpot Research’s consumer survey found that 82% of website visitors will leave a website if it’s not secure. Considering Chrome dominates 59% of the market share, your website will appear “not secure” to over half of your website visitors without being marked with HTTPS. This means having a non-secure website will make 8 out of 10 patients leave your site.

Building trust with a new patient is extremely important and patients want to feel confident in sharing their information with your practice, and the best way to start building trust with new patients is their first point of impression: your website.

What is HTTPS?

HTTPS stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure and Chrome marks your website as secure if “https” is at the beginning of your URL domain name. Build trust with your patients by securing your website with HTTPS; give them peace of mind to browse and submit their information without the worry it’s being stolen or shared.

PBHS makes sure your website is secure. New clients where PBHS manages your DNS are set up with complimentary HTTPS/ SSL security.

How Do I Make My Website Secure?

To get HTTPS, you will need to contact your website hosting provider and get an SSL/TLS certificate. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer while TLS for Transport Layer Security and both encrypt information passed through the internet like transmitting passwords, credit cards or other personal information to and from your website’s server.

How Will I Know If My Site Is Secure?

Once you have the SSL/TLS certificate, your website will display HTTPS and the iconic lock symbol next to your web domain. HTTPS is now a ranking factor in Google Search, which is yet another important way SSL impacts your practice, besides fortifying website security.

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